Monday, October 30. 2006

Let me first nip the inevitable protest in the bud - I love Soarin' (although Jay has his own things to say about it). I think it's one of the best recent additions to EPCOT. It fits in perfectly with the Land pavilion. It's firmly in the Disney tradition of innovative, immersive cinema technology. And perhaps most importantly, I have ridden it three times and each time applause has broken out in the audience.

What needs fixing is not the ride itself (although I certainly hope that the movie will be updated from time to time, perhaps including locations outside of California). No, the problem is the lengthy wait and all the consequences of that wait. Last Saturday the non-fastpass queue was 75 minutes long. At times it seemed forward progress was only achieved by outlasting those families ahead of us that gave up and walked back through the crowd. All around us guests were venting their frustrations. And worst of all, every sheet metal surface in arm's reach was covered in scratched graffiti!

Let me repeat that for emphasis: guests in a Disney queue line are surrounded by graffiti. That sort of thing we expect to see in a Paramount or Six Flags park, not in a brand new EPCOT attraction! But this blog is about constructive suggestions - so how do we fix it?

Maintenance: replace the marked surfaces at frequent intervals, and inspect constantly for signs of the graffiti's return.

Design: replace the sheet metal with some more resistant material.

Diversion: give the guests more to do or look at while waiting. Obviously people are scratching on the walls because they're in the queue for a long time with nothing to do. Although the educational quizzes and huge, beautiful photographs are a start, they're not quite enough, and the blue hallway that follows doesn't have anything really. Perhaps the content on the quiz screens could be enlivened with some videos of the four featured environments (temperate forest, arctic, rainforest, and desert). Maybe the fiber optics in the blue corridor could shift colors periodically (an easy change) or be modified to sweep colors or intensity up and down their length, giving a nice dynamic feel (somewhat harder). Since the ceiling canopy in this room is intended to represent clouds, maybe fans could blow wind, or a wind sound effect could be played to enhance the experience.

Capacity: the silver bullet, but like most silver bullets, an expensive solution. People want to ride Soarin' because it's cool - this is a GOOD problem to have. Unfortunately, the only way to reduce the wait time is to have more capacity, which means the construction of a third theater. The Soarin' building is already huge (it can be seen all around the World Showcase lagoon), but it should be possible - the cast members at the end of the blue hallway that direct you left or right could have the option of directing you forward as well. I have no illusions about the likelihood of a third theater, but it can be done and it will solve much of the problem.

There is another way of increasing capacity which I mention only because Disney bean-counters will be tempted to do it anyway, and I want to weigh in against it. That way is to cut the length of the film, which would be a disastrous "solution". People around me were ALREADY complaining about the ride being too short, especially after such a long wait.

Soarin' is an astonishing experience and a great development in attraction technology. That said, some work needs to be done on the queue; and perhaps most importantly, the film itself should not be neglected, as some other EPCOT films have been. Occasional updates would be good, and even better would be to include locations outside of California. There are any number of places around the world that deserve to be presented in such an exciting way, and since EPCOT is intended to represent no less than the entire world, such a change would bring Soarin' even more in line with the overall theme. Imagine a tour of world ecosystems - from the Alps to the Amazon! Watch your feet skimming the dunes of the Sahara in one scene, and threading through the skyscrapers of New York in the next! The Grand Canyon! The Great Wall! Now that's a film I'd like to be Soarin' through.

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